NILES — Another year and another outstanding finish at the Division 4 state tennis tournament for the Brandywine Bobcats.

Brandywine finished ninth on Saturday at the state finals hosted at Kalamazoo College. It was the second straight season that the Bobcats have finished in the top 10.

“Just a great way for us to wrap up our season by finishing in ninth place, which allowed for us to have back-to-back top 10 finishes for the first time in our program’s history,” said veteran Brandywine coach Joe Marazita. “Coach (Rich) Robbins and I knew we were going to have a solid performance when seven of our eight flights won their opening matches.”

Brandywine finished eighth in 2018.

Four of the Bobcats’ eight flights reached the quarterfinals before losing to the top seeds.

Megan Schmidt at No. 1 singles (20-1) placed sixth, as did Gianna Stella (18-5) at No. 4 singles.

The No. 1 doubles team of Maigon Conrad and Ava Moody (23-1) and Katie Stratton and Caitlin Stanner at No. 3 doubles (23-1) both finished in fifth place.

Brandywine’s No. 2 singles player, Kimberly Solloway (21-3), along with No. 4 doubles team of Mackenzie Jones and Destiny Patrolia (23-1), both won first-round matches and then were defeated by flight champions.

Carrigan Duffield and Alysa Marlin (20-2) won a three-set thriller in their first round at No. 2 doubles before falling to the No. 3 seed.

“We are just so proud of these guys for how hard they fought all day, as we never backed down from all the private schools,” Marazita said. “In fact, Mackenzie and Destiny lost 7-6, 6-3 to the champs from Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, but played stroke for stroke with them. And Megan Schmidt knocked off the returning No. 1 singles player from Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (whose team finished second in the State) in the second round to put her in the quarters.”

Marazita was also pleased with the play of his team, not only on the weekend, but throughout the season.

“That is exactly the type of effort we received all year from our entire team, which has led to this high-water mark for our program,” Marazita said. “We are really going to miss (seniors) Ava Moody, Mackenzie Jones, Destiny Patrolia and exchange student Laia Puertolas as they were all key contributors to our team and school. I also want to thank the Sheriff’s Department and Niles Township Fire Department for the escort out of town and the Brandywine Boosters for their continued support. I can’t wait for next year’s season to roll around.”

Division 3

Edwardsburg finished 12 at Novi High School over the weekend.

Detroit Country Day won the state title with 33 points. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood was the runner-up with 26 points.

Claire Deak reached the quarterfinals at No. 4 singles before being eliminated by the No. 2 seed from Holland Christian.

Margaret Brown and Elizabeth Brown also reached the quarterfinals at No. 2 doubles before falling to the No. 2 seed from Williamston. Serena Rems and Channing Green were quarterfinalists as well. They were defeated by the top seed from Allegan.